Wednesday’s Hollywood premiere of “Scream 7” was, at first glance, a splashy and traditional affair.
Franchise star Neve Campbell celebrated her welcome return to the series, director/co-writer Kevin Williamson took questions from press on the red carpet line and other series stalwarts like Courteney Cox and Matthew Lillard posed for pictures. But just around the corner outside Paramount Studios, the sound of drums could be heard as around 30 pro-Palestine protestors marched and chanted outside the gates, maintaining the beat from the controversy that swirled in 2023 when Melissa Barrera, who starred in the two prior “Scream” films, was fired over her comments about the Gaza war.
Organized by Entertainment Labor for Palestine, CodePink L.A. and Jewish Voice for Peace-Los Angeles, the demonstration saw protesters carrying signs calling for a boycott of “Scream 7” and pro-Palestinian messages, chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The noise, which extends online to social media calls for boycotts and fans purposefully revealing spoilers, marks a new wrinkle in the franchise’s three-decade-old run that has contended with script leaks, the death of its longtime director and high expectations in the past. But in this slasher sequel, Ghostface is a small-but-loud gaggle of fans who are actively working against the release of the new movie in their favorite franchise.
It’s a meta twist even Williamson couldn’t dream up.
Throughout the months leading up to the film’s release, some fans have been dropping spoilers and revealing the film’s actual killer across social media in an attempt to sabotage the film for firing Barrera.
Spyglass, the production company behind the “Scream” reboots, removed Barrera from the franchise after she spoke out on social media in favor of Palestinian lives shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. In November 2023, Barrera publicly condemned Israel’s “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians, saying, “Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp.”
Spyglass was swift in its response: “We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.”
After her dismissal, Barrera returned to Instagram to respond to the news. “First and foremost I condemn antisemitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people,” she said, adding, “Silence is not an option for me.”
Nino Testa, the “Boycott Scream 7” organizer and longtime fan of the franchise, told TheWrap Wednesday, “We believe that Melissa Barrera is a part of the ‘Scream’ community and that it’s our responsibility to speak out when a member of our community has been harmed.”
Williamson, who wrote the original “Scream,” “Scream 2” and “Scream 4” and directed this seventh installment, addressed the premiere’s protest on the red carpet, admitting it’s a “nuanced” conversation before telling TheWrap, “We live in America. Everyone has a right to protest and everyone has a right to be heard. And my heart is with their truth.”
Despite the vocal boycott, an insider said that 81% of “Scream” fans say they are definitely interested in seeing the movie — five points higher than the previous two installments at the same point in their release cycles — according to tracking data. Also of note, presales are strong, with “Scream 7” setting a franchise record as the best first-day ticket pre-seller on Fandango.
So far, the spoilers and the outrage over Barrera’s firing haven’t impacted widespread interest in “Scream 7.” Box office trackers have projected an opening weekend as high as $55 million in the U.S. and Canada, which would set a new franchise record. Even Paramount’s conservative $40 million projection would be just a few steps below the $44.5 million opening of “Scream VI” in 2023.
In the fifth “Scream” film released in 2022, Barrera played Sam Carpenter, the illegitimate daughter of Billy Loomis, the original Ghostface killer in the first “Scream” film. After Sam’s younger sister, Tara, played by Jenna Ortega, is attacked by a new Ghostface killer, Sam is drawn into a murderous plot that leads her to meet the survivors of Billy’s attacks, kicking off a plotline that continued in “Scream VI.”
Long road to “Scream 7”
The removal of Barrera, though certainly the most profound, is far from the only controversy that marred “Scream 7.” After Barrera exited the picture, Jenna Ortega soon followed — a move that was initially explained as a scheduling conflict with “Wednesday,” but was later clarified by Ortega as an intentional decision in response to Barrera’s removal.
“It had nothing to do with pay or scheduling,” she said in April 2025. “The Melissa stuff was happening and it was all kind of falling apart.”
“Happy Death Day” and “Freaky” director Christopher Landon initially signed on to direct “Scream 7” after the Radio Silence duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (who directed the previous two films) exited to work on “Abigail” (starring Barrera).
But Landon also left the film after receiving troubling messages and death threats in the wake of his stars’ departures, calling the project “a dream job that turned into a nightmare.”
“There was no movie anymore. The whole script was about her,” he said in an interview for Ashley Cullins’ book “Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror.” “I didn’t sign on to make ‘a “Scream” movie.’ I signed on to make that movie. When that movie no longer existed, I moved on.”
In came the replacement team. Kevin Williamson, who wrote genre-defining “Scream” (1996) and the well-received “Scream 2” and “Scream 4,” signed on to direct and write alongside Guy Busick. Busick developed the story with his “Scream” (2022) and “Scream VI” co-scribe James Vanderbilt, and Neve Campbell made her return after her “Scream VI” absence, centering the new story on her with cast members like Lillard (last seen in 1996’s “Scream”), Scott Foley (last seen in “Scream 3”) and David Arquette (last seen in 2022’s “Scream”) along for the ride as well.
The “Scream” franchise is no stranger to controversy. The killers in “Scream 2” had to be changed when the script leaked, and “Scream 3” was a particularly fraught production as Williamson only contributed an outline due to his busy schedule and didn’t handle script duties. “Scream 4” was (initially) met divisively by the franchise’s fans as Craven looked to move the series into a more modern direction while keeping the meta winks intact, while the 2022 reboot faced concern over having someone other than Craven at the helm.
Through it all, the fans showed up time and again.
Once “Scream 7” premiered, people quickly latched onto a joke seemingly made at Barrera’s expense. In one scene, a character derisively says they’re sorry to hear that Gale Weathers (Cox) was fired, to which Gale responds, “I wasn’t fired. My contract wasn’t renewed” — a mirror of what Barrera, whose contract only extended through “Scream VI,” said happened to her.
“I don’t care!” the character shouts back to Gale.
And while early critical reaction is the worst in the franchise, sitting at 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, box office tracking is strong, indicating that regardless of the noise made by fans choosing to boycott the movie, Paramount and Spyglass may come through this saga with yet another bankable entry in the horror franchise that, much like Ghostface, cannot die.
Surprise, Sidney.
